I posted the below on a different forum. I don’t believe they are doing such things, but they are certainly playing games:TimW wrote: ↑08 May 2021, 11:45I am slowly starting to believe that Mercedes is hiding performance. If Red Bull stays close in the championship battle, with Max in second position on the WDC, RB will keep developing this year's car, compromising development of next year.mafeotul wrote: ↑08 May 2021, 11:36Don’t let the Bull army see this. Some are claiming RedBull to be one tenth and a half up on a Merc that has ran the heaviest on Fridays for 7 years. What’s the most impressive thing is that Mercedes has still not upgraded their car, have been on an upward trajectory, and are still finding pace in the car. Makes you wonder, how fast their ultimate pace is when the W12 is fully unlocked.PlatinumZealot wrote: ↑08 May 2021, 01:06This is good for Mercedes if it continues like this because RedBull said this is the track where their updates should work well!
The RedBull car is struggling with understeer in some corners ( imo). Max running wide hitting curbs spoling his qually sim, damageing his wing and all that.
Not sure what's happening exactly with the RB16B set-up but Mercedes is wasting no time capitalizing on this golden opportunity!
Bottas and HAM are sandbagging too. Qualfiying should be easy 1:16s.
I am usually not into conspiracy theories, but that Mercedes finds more pace without upgrades than RB with upgrades is weird.
Let’s not twist this guys into something it’s clearly not. I have seen this before. This exact narrative, this mind-game. It all started in the latter stages of the 2017 season. When Mercedes is under pressure, they come up with this imaginary deficit. I don’t know wether this is to reduce pressure on the team, or to impact their work-rate, or to simply screw with competition when The reality is, the difference between the two cars is minute. Right now, it’s literally quite equal with slight advantages given to one team depending on track. The problem is, you have Hamilton on one side, and Max on the other. Each easily capable to extract insane performance from a car that hasn’t really got it, and each with the ability to be decisive when no one on the grid, or their team expect it.
My point here however is that since Bahrain, RedBull has been consistently at the same pace, strong, quick, easily adaptable, whilst Mercedes has been on a strong upwards trajectory. The latter is the one people at the minute seem to have put it under the radar. The difference in performance within 3 GP’s WITHOUT any upgrade to the car is massive. The fact that they can extract that much out of a standard chassis, that hasn’t seen the re-vamp it needs should worry everyone. It’s not just about this season. It’s about the next. From my perspective it’s a statement that despite virtually everything being done to stop them, they will always compete for Top 2. Not even top 3. Top 2.
And a small PS, big kudos to the Bulls for finally getting the package. Without them, this season, the fight, and Lewis’s 8th, would have meant less than 10% of what it would mean now, if he won it.
